Ep 37: Why Your Positioning Is Attracting the Wrong Clients
“Most positioning exercises out there are written for one to many, which is the opposite of what a one-on-one service provider actually needs.”
Emylee
One of the fastest ways to burn out in a service business is attracting clients you were never meant to work with.
Not because they are bad people, but because your positioning accidentally invited the wrong identities, expectations, and energy into your world.
In this solo episode, I’m breaking down the two copywriting and positioning shifts that completely changed the trajectory of my business, the quality of my clients, and eventually led to what I now call your Authority Anchor. These are lessons I learned the hard way, through real client work, real frustration, and real recalibration, not from plug-and-play templates built for one-to-many marketing.
If your messaging feels flat, your sales conversations feel heavier than they should, or you keep attracting clients who don’t take action, this episode will help you see exactly where things are going sideways and how to fix it.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
Why most positioning frameworks are built for one-to-many, not service providers
How subtle language choices attract specific client identities
The difference between experiencing burnout and identifying as burned out
Why speaking to the “middle” of your audience repels your best-fit clients
How Level 10 client positioning actually widens your net
What an Authority Anchor is and why it impacts your entire ecosystem
Where your Authority Anchor should live across your business
How to use your Authority Anchor to guide content, offers, and scope
The First Positioning Shift: Identity Language Matters
One of my earliest copywriting wake-up calls came when I realized I was attracting exactly who I was calling out in my messaging.
At the time, I was using language like frazzled, burned out, overwhelmed, stressed, and over it. And while those words felt relatable and empathetic, they were also doing something far more powerful. They were signaling identity.
There is a massive difference between someone who is currently experiencing stress and someone who identifies as stressed. When you write to identity, not circumstance, you attract people who see that identity as part of who they are.
That realization forced me to audit every piece of messaging in my business. Website copy, sales pages, emails, social captions, all of it. I removed language that called people into identities I didn’t enjoy working with and rewrote everything to focus on action, outcomes, and forward momentum.
The result was not fewer clients. It was better ones.
The Second Shift: Stop Writing to the Middle
The second major shift came when I challenged the common advice to “write to the middle” of your audience.
Most service providers think that if they position themselves at a five or six on a ten-point scale, they will appeal to more people. In reality, that approach repels your level eight, nine, and ten clients immediately. Those people read middle-of-the-road messaging and assume you are not for them.
When you position to level nines and tens, something interesting happens. You still attract motivated fives, sixes, and sevens, but only the ones who see themselves becoming nines and tens. You filter for action-oriented, aspirational clients without needing rigid qualifiers like revenue, years in business, or arbitrary milestones.
This is how you attract clients who are ready to move, not clients who want to stay where they are.
What an Authority Anchor Actually Is
The Authority Anchor is your expert positioning statement that clearly defines the result you provide, who you provide it for, and why you are the person to deliver it.
It is not a vague vibe.
It is not a generic tagline.
And it is not a one-size-fits-all template.
Your Authority Anchor is designed around one core question: what is the number one result this container delivers for your level 10 client?
From there, everything else falls into place. Scope, assets, delivery, pricing, client experience, and even content strategy all trace back to that single statement.
Authority Anchor 2.0: Result for the Client and the Business
This episode also introduces the evolution of Authority Anchor thinking.
Every container in your ecosystem must serve two outcomes simultaneously. A result for your level 10 client and a result for your business.
An audit plays a different role than a flagship offer. A sprint plays a different role than a retainer. When you understand the role of each container, you can position it clearly, remove unnecessary scope, and increase capacity without sacrificing quality.
Clarity here eliminates scope creep, confusion, and burnout.
Where Your Authority Anchor Lives
Once your Authority Anchor is defined, it should show up everywhere.
Your bio.
Your website hero section.
Your services and pricing page.
Your proposals.
Your client welcome materials.
Your introductions at networking events and panels.
Authority is built through repetition. You become known for the result you consistently talk about and deliver.
Using Your Authority Anchor for Content
If you ever feel stuck on what to say in your content, your Authority Anchor is the answer.
What do your level 10 clients need to know, believe, see, or unlearn in order to trust that you can deliver that result?
Every email, caption, podcast, and piece of content becomes easier when it flows from that clarity.
Chapters
00:00 Copywriting background and positioning context
02:20 Why service provider positioning is different
04:50 Identity-based language and client behavior
07:10 Action-oriented positioning shift
09:35 Why writing to the middle repels top clients
11:59 Level 10 positioning explained
16:45 Authority Anchor 2.0 and container roles
21:36 How Authority Anchor shapes your ecosystem
23:42 Where your Authority Anchor should live
26:05 Free Authority Anchor resource
Resources & Mentions
Interested in Being on the Show or Working with Emylee?
Are you a service provider with a bold perspective to share? Apply to be a guest.
Ready to transform your service into a productized, scalable offer? Apply for Sold Out Services.
If you’d like to see a library of all published episodes in a gallery with easy-to-find links to all listening platforms be sure to check out the Sell The Damn Service Episode Library.
